The night sky is clear, full of stars and shedding the light of the hunter's moon on the forest below. One of the many things the light falls on is a clearing in these woods, filled with humans and wolves and monsters. Or, that is how an outsider would view it. The Garou knew better.

A precious few young Cliath are attending their first Sept Moot tonight, and before the heavy business of giving them their place in the world begins, there is drinking and recounting of tales long since past to be done, games both crude and complex to be played, partying to be done.

The Cliath are still largely unaccustomed to all of this, but they've spent a few long months learning about it in preparation for the event itself. Most have learned the culture and ways of their new world, and some has gone as far as to learn some of it's basic rituals and ceremonies. They can tell most of the tribes present apart, and most Garou's Auspices are easy to pick up on from their behaviour. The elders are evidence more by their wealth of battle scars and fine Klaives than their true age. It also helps that they, for now, sit in observance rather than participating in the fesitivites, sitting in Crinos form and watching their fellows celebrate... ensuring that youngest and brashest among them remembers temperance, at least for now.

They do not know one another yet, Hatsumi, Adolph Pacing-on-Gusts-of-Wind and Alexander are all present and part of those festivities, so far as they are comfortable in taking part in them. They have no pack yet, but that is supposed to change tonight... and those who lack Garou names have had it hinted that they will bear them soon enough, whatever that means. Now is a time for them to try to relax amongst their own, though. For the first time in a long time, they are part of large crowd of living creature with whom they feel a sense of belonging. There's a chance for some minor social honor tonight, and for those interested time is all too short: The moot must break before morning.

(Right, first post, finally. If they get sheets to me in time, Judo, Neb and Apple might or might not take part in this same moot. We'll see!

There's garou trading stories, playying games both invented by humans, by wolves, and there's a handful of Metis off to the side, doing what looks an awful lot like brooding and talking. There's drinking and smoking and gambling, and so on. Sicne this is a multi-tribe moot, a gathering of huge proportions, you can find most anything you can think of, up to and including trading of goods, if you're interested. Find something to do, or meet each other if you like.

Alexander looked around at the rather unusual and unruly gathering, somehow feeling a little giddy from the atmosphere, amplified by his still untrained senses. Something about being here was somewhat soothing, even though he knew it wouldn't last. Some of these people were of the type that he could honestly have seen himself hanging out with in the past... And some of them I'd honestly be too frightened of to be around. he thought. But I suppose things are different now, aren't they?

It was a hard thing to get used to, this strange new world. Its people, its smells, the fact that EVERYTHING was different now, without actually changing. It... frightened him at some level, but he couldn't say why exactly. Taking up a drink, he listens in halfheartedly on some of the stories he can make out, and wonders at the dichotomy of finding yourself in a place while being utterly lost.

Hatsumi felt awkward. It was a feeling she'd been haunted by since the very first day she arrived at the sept. Naturally, awkwardness was a core part in growing up, and most teenagers experienced it some time or another. They didn't generally, however, feel awkward because they were currently hulking, 8 feet monster werewolves capable of tearing a man in two (well, most weren't anyway).

Her tail twitched every now and then as she tried to calm herself.

She felt big, clumsy and completely naked. That was probably what bothered her most, but no one else seemed to mind and she tried not to think about it too much. She'd even seen a man walk by without a thread on his body just a little while ago, so she had to assume that Gaia saw no fault in her warriors went au naturel. She felt as if she should try to stifle a little laugh, but honestly she was too riled up to do anything but grin with her teeths, two rows of sharp, tearing monsters in their own rights, clenched painfully together. She shifted slowly in her seat and reached for some of the cider that was being served, the owner of the brand apparantly being kin or so she'd heard. It tasted sour and she shivered slightly, but another sip and she realized that it actually had a natural, sweet taste. She was so used to artificial sweeteners that she could only barely feel it, but it was there. She took another swig and gave a little sigh.

She looked around some more as her tail began it's irregular twitching again, her ears at full attention (she'd almost gotten used to the feeling of being able to move your ears like this, not so much the fact that it was almost instinctual however) as she tried to overhear conversations or stories told. Her father wasn't there, which truth-be-told didn't surprise her that much, but after having been ordered by one of the few Shadow lords she had gotten to know to "sit down and stay there, pup.", there really weren't that many faces she recognized. She didn't even recognize herself these days, though she was beginning to memorizing the patterns in her fur a bit. The fact that she wasn't completely black, but rather a little grey as well here and there, hadn't escaped her elders and it'd been remarked and questioned-with-slight-sneers-on-their-faces whether this new pup didn't belong with the Furies.

She hadn't minded it though, she liked her new fur coat... if only she'd get over her own embarassment she'd probably like it more. She'd only spent a little while in the Lupus form, more because she had too than out of free will. It had been a harrowing experience, she didn't know forests could smell that much. Still, she looked over herself slowly, careful not to look as if she was too interested, just bored. She felt muscles and sinew move under her skin, thick fur coating her body and talons sharp as blades at the tip of her fingers. Absurd, if you thought about it.

Her eyes, golden yellow, flickered back on the masses of people, all looking like they were having the time of their lives. Funny, she thought as she saw a group of males about her own age, laughing loudly as they shared some incomprehensible memory of something or another. It's almost like being back at school...

A sudden tap at her shoulder pulled Hatsumi away from her thoughts. One of her mentors, a rather aged Ragabash, looked at her with an amused glint in her eyes. Suddenly she realized that, aside from the elders of the sept, she was the only one sitting away from the main festivities. For a moment she was confused, then she remembered exactly who it had been that had told her to sit patiently and wait. She growled, an instinctual thing that suddenly made her pause in surprise, and then rose, her legs complaining slightly. She'd been kept from the main body of festivity simply because she'd blindly listened to whatever anyone older than her had said. She had a good mind to give the old hag a proper talking to, but there was Auspice and then there was rank.

Instead she tried to smile, faltered in a few seconds and then slid into the crowd, praying to Go... no, Gaia... did Gaia hear prayers? Praying to whoever that she hadn't just become the laughingstock of the entire sept.

She'd love to join the rest in her normal form, she'd seen a good deal of that, but nobody else seemed to have the same problem as her. Shrugging it all off, she finished off the cider, barely noticing the alcohol or the sour taste, and headed towards a group of people surrounding a chess board.

She got a few distrustful looks from a Silver Fang, she recognized him as someone only a few years older than her, who was playing against a Garou that she hadn't met before. She folded her arms in what she hoped was a serious look as she began to observe the game, trying her best to overcome the instinctual need to lower her head for the Fang, who seemed only to become more reckless in his playing when she was this close. She sincerely hoped he wouldn't be blaming her for his inevitable loss, it was bad enough that most of her tribe seemed dead set on making enemies with everyone.

((OOC - Long post is long... Fixed a little misunderstanding and added a glob of text.))

Alexander stops to hear the tale of a young Garou. His tribe is not mentioned, but it is said he was a Galliard. He became enchanted with a Philodox of the Black Furies. It almost sounds like a romantic comedy, but Alexander notices that no one's smiliing, or laughing. The young Galliard meant to violate the litany. The Philodox tried repeatedly to disuade him: She wanted none of it. At the end of the story, the Galliard declares his unbridled love for the Philodox before their pack, decrying the litany and spouting about the power of love. The young Philodox did not agree. Later, mercy was taken upon the Galliard; He was made to endure the Rite of Satire, and was made pariah thereafter.

Hatsumi watches the chess game progress. The Silverfang is a good player, no doubt. However, he's letting himself be distracted by her. He misses important details of the board, and makes moves that would have been clever... If not for a pawn here, a knight there. He's mid-sentence in agitated bragging, when he loses his queen to a knight he hadn't noticed nearby. He'd just lost his queen to take a bishop. He snarled in frustration, while more brazen garou around him made cat calls. What a bonehead move! He stands and walks off in a huff. His opponent, a garou female in her homid form, smirked and crossed her arms. She's slightly tanned and dirty looking, wearing tattered denim jeans and a black t-shirt that looks like it was clean some time during the Carter administration.

"Don't think he likes you, pup. It probably doesn't help that he owes me an ancestral knife now, either. What's your name? Siddown, siddown! I wanna talk to you for a while."

Hatsumi had watched the game intently, trying not to notice the almost burning stare of the Silver Fang as soon as she did but move or breathe too loudly. She knew he was of higher rank than her, but she was glad she was in this form, aside from the fact that blushing didn't happen, visibly anyway, being in Crinos almost instilled a sense of courage. Slight, but definitely there.

As the Fang made the sealing move, Hatsumi bit down on her tongue as she'd already opened her mouth to warn him; thankfully the sharp pain stiffled her voiced before she'd managed and the loser stormed away from the table.

"I'm... My name is Hatsumi," she answered the woman gingerly, the faint taste of blood in her mouth slowly vanishing. She made a mental note not to bite quite so hard the next time. "Hatsumi Kuroyama..." she didn't know how to react to the friendly invitation, but she quickly decided to take the stranger up on it. She eased herself down at the bench in front of the woman, careful not to overturn the board with the chess pieces.

"Hat soo mee, huh? Mind If I call you Sue? No disrespect, pup, but it's a mouthful. Ya play chess? Friendly game, don't worry, no bets just yet."

She seemed able to talk right over Hatsumi if she wanted to. Thankfully, she stopped short o wholly doing so. Some of the others who had been watching the previous game wander off, but a few stay, still congratulating her here and there. Hatsumi manages ti pick out the name 'Carla' amongst the low din.

"...Sue?" Hatsumi nods slowly, a sort of confused look on her face. "I guess... well, yes, of course." she smiles, and although awkward it is honest and somewhat shy. She looks on as the woman, Carla, puts up the pieces on the table. Vague memories of the chess club, another attempt to make friends long ago, springs to mind.

"I'm not... really that good..." she tries slowly, eyeing the pieces. A voice inside her head, however, tells her otherwise. For a fleet second the possibility of actually winning an Ancestral Knife flashes before her eyes, but is quickly replaced with the hope of perhaps achieving some form of recognition by providing good enough sport.

Hatsumi and Carla play for about 20 minutes. They seem evenly matched for the longest time, and they attract a small crowd. It starts to look like Hatsumi's losing, but she knows better. She has a plan. She's felt several times that Carla must have noticed it, but she kept failing to block all the important bits. Finally, the finishing move presents itself. She picks up her piece... And Carla laughs heartily as Hatsumi gently knocks over Carla's king with it. Checkmate!

(Yes, that was rolled. =D Hatsumi gains 1Temporary Wisdom Renown. Not for winning at Chess, but for resoundingly beating a skilled player who just proved herself by beating a semi-famed player, and winning a treasured family artifact off of him. Good going!)

Hatsumi is completely caught up in the game as she moves the pieces around almost by instinct, the faint memories of the Chess club bubbling into life as she remembers how to counter a knight here, a bishop there. She's not even looking at the woman in front of her as her jaw slacks slightly, even more so noticeable because of the rather larger mouth-to-head proportion. She can almost taste the victory!

Then it's done, and with a grin she looks up at the loser, ready to bask in the praise of the others... then reality collides with her feet at an excess of 88 miles per hour and her eyes widen with a start.

"I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to. I mean, I guess I wasn't as bad... I didn't remember..." she stammers at the laughing woman, her lust for victory sated for now, leaving behind only a shocked yet somewhat happy pup.

She can't deny that deep down she feels good, really good. Before she can stop herself, she looks over to where she last saw the Silver Fang, the half-apologetic grin still on her face.

For a few seconds the young werewolf stared at Carla, a puzzled look on her face, and then her ears flickered and she stood up as well, dwarfing the woman as she moved a clawed hand to gently push her ruffled fur back to the way it was; she certainly wasn't used to being treated as friendly like this. Although some of the sept members had started to warm up to her, no one had yet acted so casual around her, and she didn't know what to make of it.

"I-I'm not sure I should..." she mumbled, mostly for herself as she realized she was already walking just a bit behind Carla towards the area where drinks were being served. She straightened her back somewhat and continued after the woman, intrigued by this stranger, yet still somewhat wary of her.

It was quite an interesting carnival of sights that would probably scandalize, shock, and horrify his old co-workers back in California. Various shapes and forms laughing, talking, and mostly enjoying themselves in ways that were generally familiar enough. Except you saw a wolf-headed thing (another cub, like himself) with teeth like knives, grinning in earnest enjoyment of a game of chess with a tanned woman who seemed to be enjoying the game just as much. The good mood was making it hard for him not to at least attempt to amuse himself.

About then his mind registered the way that the story he'd stopped to listen to was going. For there it was again, the oddness which he seemed to have been born into, even though it only recently seems to be expressing itself. One look over at the deformed and twisted forms of the Metis in the corner told him exactly what the end result of this was. But it was hard to reconcile some of this with his own life. Alexander sighed. Perhaps he should do less questioning of these things and more of attempting to understand.

Either way, it would do no one any good if he just sat here and brooded on what it meant to be Garou. Not when there was so much excitement to be had. He wandered over towards the refreshments, intending perhaps to afterwards go to see some of the other games, or perhaps listen to some other stories that were being told. In a corner nearby was a pair of eyes intently watching the festivities but seeming more to tolerate them than enjoy them. The Lupus didn't seem like it had many scars, so it probably wasn't an elder, but the stern look of what Alex now recognized as a Wendigo tribe member encouraged him to, perhaps, find some entertainment elsewhere.

Even in times of festivity, it is best to be vigilant. Perhaps, particularly in times of festivity, thought a wolf meandering through the crowds at the moot. Somewhat standing out due to his smallness, a hispo-formed tribesman wandered aimlessly about, taking in the sights and sounds--less so those of the camaraderie and celebration, and more those of the literal gathering itself.

That is to say, loosely put, Adolph was engaging in people-watching.

It was turning out to be less interesting than he'd thought; most of the tribesmen in attendance acted predictably in accordance with their tribe and rank--how boring. But on occasion, a young upstart would boast just a little harder than he ought, or two garou of very different rank would chatter as though equals. Adolph, as he was named for the times he spent around humans, found more interest in trying to guess at tribal roles, trying to pick out packs from the melange of social ongoings.

Two Wendigo met up and embraced, apparently having not seen eachother for a long time--maybe one had come far, in order to do work for Gaia away from home. A Glass Walker and one who had introduced himself as a Ragabash Silver Fang chatted at length about human politics; perhaps an opportunity to strike was being planned. And then there was the young one who toppled her elder in a game of wits...it could be that this one was destined for some amount of greatness....Adolph would have to keep an eye on this one and determine more precisely what sort of greatness it might be.

But there would be time for that later. Or so he told himself, as he paced, restless, among the crowd. These things, he decided, last too long. Too much revelry in the face of imminent and widespread danger. Too much forgetting of their reason for existing in the first place. He didn't like it, but Adolph had little choice in the matter, at least at his current level of influence and self-reliance.

"You haven't told me what I'm looking for.""Anything that might be of interest to Slitscan. Which is to say, anything that might be of interest to Slitscan's audience. Which is best visualized as a vicious, lazy, profoundly ignorant, perpetually hungry organism craving the warm god-flesh of the anointed. Personally I like to imagine something the size of a baby hippo, the color of a week-old boiled potato, that lives by itself, in the dark, in a double-wide on the outskirts of Topeka. It's covered with eyes and it sweats constantly. The sweat runs into those eyes and makes them sting. It has no mouth, Laney, no genitals, and can only express its mute extremes of murderous rage and infantile desire by changing the channels on a universal remote. Or by voting in presidential elections." --Colin Laney and Kathy Torrance, William Gibson's Idoru

Hatsumi followed Carla through the crowd, constantly apologizing for bumping into someone, or treading on toes. As they reached the table where the drinks were being served, Carla handed her a mug filled with thick, foamy, amber-colored liquid. Hatsumi took the mug, sniffed it and found to her surprise that it smelled quite sweet. Seeing as how the tanned woman was already chugging hers, Hatsumi did her best to follow suit, but as she swung up the mug to her lips, mouth only barely open to not allow the sweet liquid to pour out the sides of her mouth, she sent her elbow almost straight into a person at her side. Shocked by the sudden impact, she bumped the mug straight into her muzzle, and with a mixture of a yelp and whine she turned around, drink spilling into her fur.

The sudden blow to the side caused Alex to stumble, and for a moment he spent turning to see who did it with the makings of a low growl in his throat. But of all things, he wasn't at ALL prepared for the sight of a thoroughly wet furred girl leaning over and asking him if HE was alright. Chuckling, he could barely bring himself to finally say "Oh, um... yeah... sure.. Just.." A very small part of Alex quailed at being so close to this hulking THING that was apologizing to him, but that part was easily overruled by the fact that it (she, his mind supplied) looked so ridiculous at the moment.

Hatsumi stood frozen, arms partly stretched out as the sweet-smelling stuff dripped off her slowly, her eyes glancing up at the moon as if she blamed it for all of this. She DID look ridiculous, but right now she just felt icky and

Yes... thank you..." she said through clenched teeths as it began to dawn on her that he was chuckling. She cringed as she felt her fur sticking together and she wished more than anything to find a bathtub or just a lake, anything to wash herself off.

She vacantly picked at her left arm, which had taken the brunt of the splash, feeling the joy of her recent victory flying out the window along with her dignity.

"Look, could you just..." she muttered at Alex, apparantly having completely forgotten that it was she who bumped into him. She realized she was still holding the mug with her left hand and she put it down on the table, slowly and without looking at anyone, realizing with another grumble that her nose was throbbing slowly in pain, If you... maybe... yeah, a towel would be nice...

Looking around for some sort of towel that WOULDN'T insult someone if he used, he finally finds a plain blue cloth that doesn't seem like it would get him in huge trouble and hands it to the girl. "That was a great game of chess I saw you play over there, by the way."

Yeah, the way that fur would start sticking together, a bath probably would be better than anything else. But Alex was pretty sure that she would come to the same conclusion as well.

Taking the, to her, tiny piece of cloth in her right hand, Hatsumi still felt rather icky and uncomfortable, but at least the topic of conversation turned to something she didn't mind talking about. Flashing an eye over at Carla, in case the older werewolf minded the forthcoming conversation, she said through still clenched, if only a bit less now, teeth: "T...thanks. I didn't know you were watching." she'd been so focused on the game... on winning the game she added with some sour self-reflection.

"Hey... sorry for bumping into you, it's just... you know..." she made a very small motion to indicate that Crinos was perhaps not the best of forms to be in when you attended a rather crowded gathering. "I'm Hatsumi..." she added with afterthought, feeling a slight bit of relief that she was finally talking to someone about her own age.

"I'm Alex." he replies, as he grabs his own drink. "Still trying to get used to things, you know?" Things much like the rather large wolf-person-thing he was politely chatting with now. Granted, he believed he was a good bit taller when in the form himself... "How about you, Hatsumi?"

"Oh, well, I'm..." She pondered the subject, filling the silence with empty words (a rather bothersome habit she had), "I think I'm getting the hang of it, yeah, it's been a bit weird to be told all of this," she makes a small sweeping movement with her hand, indicating Gaia, the Triad, and all that, "And kind of frustrating that we're told so little. Mostly, the people in my tribe just... well, they kind of look funnily when I ask them stuff sometimes, but other times they tell me without a fuss. And I find it a bit hard to buy into all they're telling me..."

She was drifting into I'm-really-too-good-to-be-stuck-learning-this mode, which wasn't necessarily a bad thing (a sign she was calming down if anything), but there was a faint whiff of Holier-than-thou in the way she talked, something she probably wasn't aware of herself.

"How about you? What tribe do you belong to? Would you maybe be..." she looked over at Alex, but she really couldn't figure out where he belonged. Maybe if he had been Crinos, but her elders had told her that a lot of the tribes didn't really keep that as a sign of belonging, excepting of course some rather obvious ones.

((OOC - Nakibe, would you mind posting a link to Alex's description, or writing it? Hatsumi's is here but I can describe her as well in my next post...))

(Sorry for the delay. A description of Alex, huh? Well. Lets see. Alex is a bald-headed black man who is about 5'8, is a little pudgy, and has what might be identified by a slight Southern Californian accent. Currently he'd be wearing something more like a red button-up shirt and jeans. As for Auspice and Tribe, it'd be Ahroun Child of Gaia.)

"Child of Gaia, actually. And I can see I'm not the only one that's been asking a ton of questions of the elders." Alex chuckled, remembering the first time he'd been told that he was asking tons of questions. It most likely wouldn't be the last time either, at the rate he was going. "I'm just glad I haven't pissed anyone off too badly in the process."

Alex and Hatsumi's conversation, along with Adolph's brooding, were interrupted by howls from the middle of the camp. The elders were ready to get down to business tonight. The festivities slowly came to a halt, young and old alike finishing their trade and revelry. They came and they sat around the elders, and waited for the moot to begin proper.

(I'd like to squeeze atleast one more post from all three of you before going on.)

Hatsumi, currently in her Crinos form, wore no clothing, although being in the war form of their kind, there wasn't really that much that needed hiding, nor was she in any need of warmth or protection.

As a member of the Shadow Lords, one of the more selective tribes, Hatsumi was mostly black in fur; I say mostly, as from her belly to muzzle, she was silvery-grey, her rather sharp features complemented with golden yellow eyes currently focused on Alex, her emotions hard to read to anyone who hadn't spent too much time in the company of these hulking figures.

Not that how she felt at the moment was important, as she was only a bit bemused by how readily he presented himself as a Child of Gaia. She'd heard a lot of things about the peace-brokers, not all of them pleasant (and most likely not all of them true), and she wondered for a moment whether she should give her own tribe as well.

This, however, proved to be pushed aside as the howls of the eldars made her almost jump with a start; half-way through wiping her fur as well. It still felt sticky and icky, but she'd have to live with it for now. She dearly wished she could just "un-fur" back into her real form...

She gave an apologetic nod to Alex and hurried off towards her tribesmen, sitting down in a place where she wouldn't block anyone's view. That wasn't very difficult though, a lot of her fellows were either themselves in Crinos as well, or were seated in a tight-knitted group that permitted no entrance.

Adolph, meanwhile, breathed a short sigh of relief that the moot was to come to a functional purpose, beyond mere socialization. He sat, attentive to the elders, though not entirely able to tune out the noise of life around him as a few whispered, fidgeted, or shifted.

In his position near the back of the grouping, he could still hear well using the wolf ears nature had bestowed upon him, and at the same time he was able to see almost all of those gathered. He fancied himself a sort of watcher of the tribes, able to keep his mind on important things while others were caught up in their diversions. And so, he watched and listened, attention split between the elders' actions and those of the group at large, ready to alert help if a disturbance should somehow emerge. It would only be his duty to his people, after all, to help in maintaining order and unity, howsoever recently he was inducted into the fold.

"You haven't told me what I'm looking for.""Anything that might be of interest to Slitscan. Which is to say, anything that might be of interest to Slitscan's audience. Which is best visualized as a vicious, lazy, profoundly ignorant, perpetually hungry organism craving the warm god-flesh of the anointed. Personally I like to imagine something the size of a baby hippo, the color of a week-old boiled potato, that lives by itself, in the dark, in a double-wide on the outskirts of Topeka. It's covered with eyes and it sweats constantly. The sweat runs into those eyes and makes them sting. It has no mouth, Laney, no genitals, and can only express its mute extremes of murderous rage and infantile desire by changing the channels on a universal remote. Or by voting in presidential elections." --Colin Laney and Kathy Torrance, William Gibson's Idoru

Turning at the howls of the elders, Alex realizes that the party is over. Time to get to business... whatever that might be. As such, he looks around for wolves of his own tribe and, making sure he doesn't get in someone's way and earn a cuffing or potentially worse, he settles himself down, respectfully willing to listen to whatever the elders had to say.

Finally, the moot is gathered. Three elders are presiding over it this evening, though only one is speaking. He is a reminder that the term 'Elder' does not actually imply age, for he looks to be no more than than thirty years old. In his Crinos form at current, he has well kept, brilliant red fur. It is especially long on his head, and has been tied up in thick braids, reaching down past his shoulders. He speaks in a warm baritone.

"Welcome, visiting Garou, to our Caern. Welcome to all. We begin with the usual matters of business... What concerns my brothers tonight?"

The Elder seems, from his demeanor, to ask this question on sufferance. The Cliath soon learn why: It seems that almost every Garou present has some "pressing concern" to voice. Many of them are petty personal squabbles, requiring mediation by a higher ranking Garou. There are a few matters of greater importance raised, but nothing more significant than status of some of their guarded Kin. This takes hours, and for Cliath who are still not quite used to remaining awake all night this way, there is a very real temptation to simply nod off. However, it is eventually finished with. The elders look well pleased for it.

"With this very... important matters out of the way, let us turn to the matter of our unproven Cliath. Stand, young ones, and come forward."

Hatsumi had sat at attention during the whole thing, although admittedly her left hand felt as if someone'd doused it with acid; she was stinging all over after pinching herself. She liked to believe it was the stuffy air ("we're outside" she added to herself), or perhaps a lack of sleep; but in reality she wasn't all that interested in listening to a lot of people talking about their very personal problems, especially since she didn't know anyone of them... and she wasn't in any position to help them.

She wished there'd been something like "We are in a desperate need for some fairly able-minded youngsters to earn themselves some respect from their elders by performing a moderately difficult task", but nothing really came up.

She looked up with a start, which warranted some angry looks from her tribesmen (or was she just imagining it?) and she pretended not to notice, or even act like she'd done something potentially humiliating. Instead she stood, somewhat shakingly, to her feet and stood at what she hoped was an attentive and impressive, yet not too cocky way. She'd worked the fur of her left arm and most of the stickiness was gone, though she really, REALLY wanted to take a bath right now. Preferrably without fur, but that was pretty impossible at the moment...

She took a few steps forward, arms twitching slightly as she tried to decide the best way to hold them without moving around too much.

Just when Alex was sort of having fun and seemingly getting to know a few people, to business. And what a load of business it was. Its more lively than those godawful board meetings, that's for sure. he thought for a moment, although it was sort of hard to maintain more than a casual interest after a while. And it seemed that the various concerns went on FOREVER, just as the board meetings did, although the subject matter seemed somewhat different. Territorial disputes, settlement of old grudges, a few calls for protection of Kinfolk...Cliath? Oh, right. Me... and who knows what others here. One thing those endless meetings did at least teach him was how to pick the important information out of a long list of things that Don't Concern Alex.

As such, Alex, with only a few nagging doubts, fears, and no end of minor questions niggling at him, stepped forwards to where the elders had indicated. With some luck, his slight nervousness would be forgiven. Or at least no worse than anyone else's.

Adolph, wishing now that he hadn't found himself a place so far back in the crowd, trod between his Chosen brethren on his way to the front. It was true that he was Cliath, and it was true that he was unproven, but he wished that his way of remedying the latter would not have been so....public.

Not that he had a choice in the matter, he reflected, as he stood as indicated, feeling the burden of dozens, perhaps hundreds, of eyes upon him, unsettling him with their judgements, their scrutiny.

He reminded himself that he could not prove himself and gain more ability to serve his kind any other way, and attempted to focus on steadying his nerves and calming his pulse.

He looked out at the crowd, and found a disturbing, if effective, way to distract himself from the gaze of onlookers. Of the crowd, most were in man or near-man forms. He recalled having heard stories that at one point, lupus Chosen were more prolific in their ranks than homids, but there was little evidence of that now. One species of descent stood out among all others; and indeed, for every wolf-born Garou, there were many children of man, to make no mention of the differentiation in species of wolf.

He wasn't sure how this happened, but he felt it an ill omen.

"You haven't told me what I'm looking for.""Anything that might be of interest to Slitscan. Which is to say, anything that might be of interest to Slitscan's audience. Which is best visualized as a vicious, lazy, profoundly ignorant, perpetually hungry organism craving the warm god-flesh of the anointed. Personally I like to imagine something the size of a baby hippo, the color of a week-old boiled potato, that lives by itself, in the dark, in a double-wide on the outskirts of Topeka. It's covered with eyes and it sweats constantly. The sweat runs into those eyes and makes them sting. It has no mouth, Laney, no genitals, and can only express its mute extremes of murderous rage and infantile desire by changing the channels on a universal remote. Or by voting in presidential elections." --Colin Laney and Kathy Torrance, William Gibson's Idoru

Sammy had been having a wonderful time at this "meeting", up until the boring talking started. Who cared about all of the boring boring whining... The games were really nifty, and there's tasty food and no one yelled and said to go away...If anyone paid too much attention Sammy would just stand near an adult and then they would forget Sammy was there. This was ultimate fun and Sammy was hoping they would stop with the boring whining and go back to the games soon, before the battery on the DS, PSP, and SP's all died...

(Sammy appears to be somewhere between the ages of 12 and 14 and could be either a girl or a boy, it's difficult to tell under all of the dirt and grime. Sammy is wearing dirty jeans and a t-shirt several sizes too large and if you pay attention there will be a different hand held gaming system in hand every time you look)

I like these calm little moments before the storm... It reminds me of Beethoven...

Now, Doc had been to a few different shindigs, but this one? This one took the fucking cake.

She had to admit to herself, this whole thing had been...weird at first. Weird was an understatement. Calling this whole werewolf thing "weird" was like saying Antarctica was chilly. Now, she knew Grams and her aunt and uncle were all into wolves and all that (hell, she couldn't walk from her room to the door without seeing some wolf or luna or fang or vaguely Native American something or another crosstitch-pillow-charm-watch-carved whatsit cluttering their already crowded apartment), and she just thought it was the same new age crap Gram was into.

Who would've thought that it was actually real?

Still, she adjusted well enough, and she had to admit, the people here were a hell of a lot better than the jerks she had to deal with earlier. It was a relief to walk by a group of people without getting funny looks or smartass comments, really. It certainly made this moot less awkward, and any inhibitions she may have had were lost as soon as the music reached her ears. She joined in immediately, dancing, singing, cracking jokes and listening to others, and just running around. Running around like a kid, like a wolf, like some weird thing in between, and then changing back into a normal ki- oh wait, pants. Crap! She needed those again.

By the time she was properly attired (she was positive nobody would miss that extra blanket-turned-sarong), the talking had started. Blah blah words, blah blah more words. To her, it seemed rather pointless, but she couldn't make a stink here. Soon enough, the squabbles and complaints died down, and they were being called up.

Finally, something to do again. She was beginning to get a cramp. Doc stood up, and stepped forward as asked.

(ooc: Doc is around 17 or so, and she's a pretty average kid in the looks department. Dark tan skin, frizzy brown hair cut short, freckles, a too big nose and a short, scrawny build. Right now she's barefoot and wearing an old shirt and a pilfered blanket)

Besides the four young Garou who had just approached the presiding elders, another ten came forward. The elders sized them up breifly, and then the one who seemed to be acting as speaker addressed them all once more:

"Today, you young ones will experience what it is to run with a pack for the first time. With Gaia's blessing, you may remain in this pack for cycles of the moon. However, some of you will almost certainly find this experience intolerable. No that this first time, there is no shame in such. But also know that you will never be more than Cliath until you are part of a pack; Their claws are your claws, theri fangs are your fangs. You must be closer than brothers and sisters, more intimately a part of one another than lovers.

"As time passes, you may find other Garou that wish to become part of your pack, or that you desire to make part of your pack. After you have proven yourselves, that will be the pack's decision to make; You will no longer ask permission of anyone. In the weeks ahead, you will become adults.

"Anyone who is not prepared for those, speak now."

This was something that had been previously rehearsed with each of the young Garou, in private. They did, technically, have the right now to opt out of becoming adults. However, the technical release didn't make it practical, or smart. No one took this offer.

"Very well. Then we begin."

A long ritual followed: Each of the young Cliath was marked with sigils, drawn in dust and river water and the juices of plants, many of which they were not familiar with. As this was done, spirits were summoned to the Caern, who studied each of the Cliath in turn. They whispered amongst themselves in the sibilant and riddle laden speech that was typical of them. Finally, the elders stood, and stepped sideways as one. The spirits disappeared with them, and a hush fell over the crowd.One by one, the painted sigils began to glow faintly. Each of the young Cliath could feel him and herself being asked dozens of questions, hear him and herself answering, while only being half-conscious of what those questions and answers were. Finally, they felt compelled to stand somewhere... their legs guided them to these spots, quite independent of their owners' will.

Hatsumi, Adolph, Alexander, and Doc all stand together. Another cliath stands with them; He is in his homid form: A boy at the nebulous age somewhere between sixteen and eighteen. His brown hair is cut short and brushed back. He's fairly skinny with sharp features, and is wearing the latest ironically faded and torn $200 jeans from Abercrombie, and held a dressy white shirt with an ink-spattered pattern to it. He was wearing it earlier, but had opted to remove it when it was time to get painted up.

Two more packs have been formed, making a sort of triangle around the Elders' seats, one of five and another of four. The elders appear back in the physical world, and each one faces one of the newly formed packs.

"Take some time to get to know one another. Return to us in half an hour, and you will received your missions."

Hatsumi had chewed, carefully, her already healed tongue carefully as the elder had spoke; she'd been surprised by the fact that her body and mouth seemed to operate on their own, but she felt no unease, not even when she found that her memory of events mere seconds ago were fuzzy and hazy, as if looked at through a pool of water, or fog...

She was a Philodox; her elders had been rather adamant at that point. It had to do with what the moon had been like during the time of her becoming, and with her... condition, this made for a rather ill-omen; Being born under Half a moon, yet forced to change when the moon turns full, the elders had whispered amongst themselves, we shall see what the Pup makes of herself before.

She was a Philodox, and she was supposed to lead the pack; that's what she'd been told, and that's what made an almost smug face play over her face, if only for a few seconds; Four unknowns, one whom she'd only barely spoken with... A challenge if anything, and she was sure that with some proper investigation she'd be able to form a good Pack with them...

A strange kind of mixture between nostalgia and uncertainty seemed to slam against her every time she thought of that word, but she ignored it the best she could; Alex had seemed like the right sort of person, and as long as there wasn't any unnecessary arguments in who was going to do what, she was sure they'd all get along.

"Ehrm..." she cleared her throat slightly, revealing that although the shape didn't show, the Crinos was a woman, although with a much deeper voice than usual, "I am... my name is Hatsumi..." she stopped for a little while and seemed to pick her words carefully, "I am..." what was she going to say? "I am a Shadow Lord Philodox (level 39), how do you do?", "I am a japanese girl raised in the US who killed her mom a couple of months ago?

Alex looked at his apparent new packmates and his first thought was They're all so YOUNG. My God, am I the oldest new guy here? Damn! This didn't help his nervousness as he looked over at the others. How long DID his change pass him by, really? Although the wolf that wandered over as well seemed self-assured, in his own wolfish-way. Who knows? Eh. Maybe this won't be as bad as I'm thinking....

"Er, hi. My name is Alex Mackenzie, pleased to meet you all." Ugh, what am I supposed to say here, really? That I'm a systems analyst? They're probably not interested. That I hope we get along well? THAT's obvious. He knew from a few speaking classes that you should try something less formal, but... what to say, really?

Doc took a look at the people around her, and she had to say, it was the first time she felt torn between awe and...not exactly disappointment, but there was something anticlimactic about her pack mates. Lets see...old guy, some spoiled rich snot, a huge (and admittedly cool looking) wolf, and a giant wolf woman that would have been pretty damn scary if she didn't look so nervous. Seriously, Doc suspected that she'd topple over if she so much as looked funny at her.

...then again, she couldn't blame her. The transformation from normal life to "hey, I hope you really like nature kitsch, camping, and oldschool horror movies" wasn't exactly easy. She'd understand it if she looked more, well, human, but it felt weird seeing skittishness in something that could rip your face off.

Enough internal chit chat. It was time to make introductions. "I'm Doc," she said, with a smile on her face (there was no way anyone was going to hear her real name). "This is really something, huh?"

Sammy glanced back and forth between the new groups, trying to decide which she would grace with her presence. One group stood out WWWAAAYYYY above the rest, they looked so much more interesting than the others!!

She goes bounding up to the one in the sheet/towel thingie and hands her a chocolate bar.

"Here, these are really tasty!" then looking at the Japanese girl, hands her one as well. "Ooh you look like you could REALLY use one too. What's up? My name is Sammy! I think I may actually have enough for everyone..." She digs through all of her pockets finding lint covered melted candy bars for everyone.

I like these calm little moments before the storm... It reminds me of Beethoven...

Hatsumi folded her arms in front of herself as Alex spoke, and then the girl dressed in a towel who introduced herself as Doc...

She felt a sudden pang of typical adolescent frustration at it, she'd never been fond of nicknames, and Doc...

She clenched her arms tighter as she realized where her thoughts were heading and tried to return to the present.

And what's with the looks Doc had been giving her...? No, no, focus focus...

Her eyes fell upon the two others in her group, the wolf and the smartly dressed young man. Of course there'd have to be a wolf with them, she'd been told repeatedly the importance of a connection to nature, and as the Wolf-kin grew smaller and smaller... Well, she gave a mental shrug as her eyes fell upon the young man... but before she could give him any mute critizism, Sammy came into her view.

...Who... who was this? She blinked in confusion and slight embarrassment as a chocolate bar was handed to her; appearing almost made for a doll in her large, clawed hands.

Several years worth of instincts gained from family dinners and school attendence reminded her that this girl... boy... child was a good deal younger than her... dirty... and had a fragnance... ick... candy...

She wrinkled her nose a little, she'd never been one for sweet things, and graciously tried to find a way to dispose of the chocolate bar; Why did that little kid have to do this? Was it part of the ritual? To test their patience? She grumbled inwardly as she tried to figure out the proper way to act.

Was this all that they could come up with? Did they underestimate her worth this much?

No, no no no... stupid thoughts...

But the biting, nagging feeling that she was being looked down upon returned, and with it a glare towards the smaller girl.

((OOC - Sorry for the transformations in personality... I'm still kind of trying to work in her merits and flaws into this... :( ))

The near-wolf sat next to the group, such as they were. In the tongue of dogs, he introduced himself. "Pacing-on-gusts-of-wind. A pleasure to make your acquaintance," he added as a formality, saying nothing further on the issue; though it struck him as fortuitous that his preferred form lacked a human's complex facial movements, allowing him to give less of himself away. He still wasn't quite of the mind to consider these other Cliath his brothers and sisters, though there was no point in fighting a command from the Elders by being less than honorable about it.

"You haven't told me what I'm looking for.""Anything that might be of interest to Slitscan. Which is to say, anything that might be of interest to Slitscan's audience. Which is best visualized as a vicious, lazy, profoundly ignorant, perpetually hungry organism craving the warm god-flesh of the anointed. Personally I like to imagine something the size of a baby hippo, the color of a week-old boiled potato, that lives by itself, in the dark, in a double-wide on the outskirts of Topeka. It's covered with eyes and it sweats constantly. The sweat runs into those eyes and makes them sting. It has no mouth, Laney, no genitals, and can only express its mute extremes of murderous rage and infantile desire by changing the channels on a universal remote. Or by voting in presidential elections." --Colin Laney and Kathy Torrance, William Gibson's Idoru

Of all the things he would've expected out of this whole thing, that certainly wasn't what he thought, and he had a hard time trying to hide his irritation at that. Not at these kids, KIDS.... But at the bad feeling he had about getting them together like this. Expecting them to attempt to face the world like this.

But perhaps I'm making too much of this, Alex thinks as he bites into the chocolate bar. I mean, this whole thing is really weird, sure. REALLY weird. And I'm a part of the weirdness too now, so.... He stops his ruminations to frown at his chocolate bar. Not nearly as good as he remembered em, this one.
"Eh. Thanks for the candy... Sammy, wasn't it?"